Jail beatings show need for advisory committee

Sex offenders have not only violated the law, but have sometimes done things most of us find unimaginable. Sexually abusing children is unimaginable to me.

But people who commit such crimes do not give up their humanity, or their entitlement to the protection of our laws. Unfortunately, it may take fresh lawsuits and more huge jury verdicts to get that point through the skulls of the folks who run the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

We’ve all heard how sex offenders are often treated by other prisoners. Therefore they’re housed separately; and when they’re in contact with others, you watch carefully; and you don’t let other inmates know that a particular inmate is a sex offender. These are the rules.

Case: Mr. A writes me that after his arrest (for an unspecified sex crime) a jailer placed him in a holding cell with a regular inmate and let that inmate see what he was in for. Mr. A was beaten to within an inch of his life. (Call me if you’re a lawyer who has time and the skills to represent him.)

Case: Mr. B had just returned from court. Completely shackled, he sat on a bench, helpless, waiting for the guard to remove his restraints. The jailer first unlocked a maximum-security inmate who had apparently heard the charges against Mr. B in court. The other inmate beat Mr. B so badly Mr. B was beyond the capabilities of our local hospitals and had to be transferred to El Paso.

Sorry, but that’s just wrong.

We’re not talking about a father or brother so angry over the rape of a sweet, innocent girl (or boy) that he attacks the rapist. (I’ll admit having said and meant that if someone molested a certain innocent, creative, and loving 11-year-old female relative, I’d kill him myself. Even though I understand that most such molesters have first been victims.)

We’re talking about the deliberate indifference of a jailer who likely hasn’t met the victim, but dislikes sex offenders, or gets some jollies watching a beating. Or is so careless that he should find some job where people’s lives aren’t at stake.

Meanwhile, “sex crimes” have expanded far beyond what most of us realize. Some poor soul who never touches anyone but watches a couple of pornographic films with underage kids in them could be locked up for decades. Such films aren’t to my taste; and I understand the theory that jailing customers diminishes the market for such films. But the penalties can be draconian.

Too, an 18-year-old having a fling with a 15-year-old who says she’s 17, and looks and acts it, could be jailed on a charge that sounds worse than it was.

I concede that the two incidents cited above are allegations, not yet tried in any court of law, civil or criminal.

But note that I don’t do criminal law or hang around the jail a lot. If I know of these two cases, from the past few months, how many more might there be that we know nothing of?

As a tax-paying citizen, I don’t want jailers conducting themselves this way: it’s legally wrong, and it risks a Slevin-size jury verdict. Folks complaining about alleged waste at the county should sure complain far more loudly about this stuff.

These problems illustrate why we need a Citizens Advisory Committee here. Ethically or financially, we cannot afford to view our jails as septic tanks into which we need not look.

Doña Ana County resident Peter Goodman writes, shoots pictures, and sometimes practices law. Further information may be on his blog at www.soledadcanyon.blogspot.com